Another Utterly Absurd Attempt by the
Chiang Government
(July 2, 1947)
(Xinhua News Agency, Northern Shaanxi, July 2) As declared in the June
29 dispatch of the Guomindang’s Central News Agency in Nanjing, Chiang
Kaishek’s Nanjing government has already issued a so-called “wanted circular” regarding Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese people and of the Chinese
Communist Party. Chiang Kaishek has adopted this measure just at the time
when China’s people have risen up in unison to demand peace and to oppose
civil war. It was only a month ago that Chiang Kaishek’s Political Council sent a
telegram inviting representatives of the Chinese Communist Party to Nanjing for
the resumption of peace talks, and Chiang Kaishek himself made pronouncements
such as “the country absolutely needs peace,” and so on. At the time, commentators familiar with what was going on behind the scenes had already confirmed that
this stance was pure deceit. In the context of the waves of victorious counteroffensives by the People’s Liberation Army, Chiang Kaishek’s so-called “wanted
circular” is particularly amusing. An observer here is of the opinion that at a time
when Chiang’s army is being defeated everywhere and economic and political
crises worsen by the day, this kind of reactionary measure on the part of Chiang
Kaishek is yet another ludicrous attempt to remedy the overwhelming despair
among officers and soldiers in Chiang’s army and among Guomindang officials.
Another motivation for this measure is as an immediate response to the U.S.
State Department’s gift of 130 million rounds of ammunition. This observer has
stated that since Chiang Kaishek has issued a “wanted circular” for the leader of
the Chinese Communist Party, then any government in the Liberated Areas and
any Chinese person has even greater reason to take Chiang Kaishek into custody
and bring him to trial for his crimes. Ever since the Xi’an Incident,1 it has become
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong xinwen gongzuo wenxuan, pp. 363–64,
in bold were added by Mao to the original draft of the Xinhua News Agency commentary.
1.  In December 1936, Generals Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng abducted Chiang
Kaishek with the objective of forcing the Guomindang to change its policies toward Japan
and the Chinese Communist Party. Chiang was released two weeks later after agreeing to
end hostilities against the Chinese Communist Party and to begin preparing for war against
Japan.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-3

an increasingly realistic prospect that the Chinese people will once again capture
Chiang Kaishek, this traitor, murderer, and arch criminal of the civil war. The
observer goes on to say: Over the past year, Chiang Kaishek has adopted
numerous measures, such as convening a “National Assembly,” “establishing
a constitution,” “reorganizing” the government, expelling the representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, and occupying Yan’an, and now there
is this so-called “wanted circular” for the leader of the Chinese Communist
Party. The aim of all this is to damage the prestige of the Chinese Communist
Party and of all democratic forces, and to place them in an isolated position.
The results, however, are exactly the opposite, as what little remaining prestige Chiang Kaishek himself had among the people has been fatally damaged,
and he has been utterly isolated. Now Chiang Kaishek’s total collapse is only
a matter of time.

where it is reproduced from the manuscript preserved in the Central Archives. The passages